期刊名称：Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine
印刷版ISSN：1232-1966
电子版ISSN：1898-2263
出版年度：2018
卷号：25
期号：2
页码：1-6
DOI：10.26444/aaem/75113
出版社：Institute of Agricultural Medicine in Lublin
摘要：Introduction. Every farming method, whether conventional or organic, has been associated with some sort of risky behaviors
leading to health issues among farmers. Substantial evidence is not available in the literature to determine whether the
magnitudes of health outcomes vary between conventional and organic farmers. The study investigated whether selfreported
neurological and mental health symptoms differ between conventional and organic farmers living in Indiana,
USA.
Materials and method. A self-reported questionnaire survey collected information from 200 conventional and 157 organic
farmers of Indiana on demographic characteristics, depression and neurological symptoms. Statistical analyses were
conducted to observe the differences in self-reported symptoms by groups of farmers.
Results. It was observed that the conventional farmers had significantly higher age-adjusted mean neurological symptom
score (p<0.01) than the organic farmers. Regression models revealed positive and significant associations of conventional
farming with total (β =1.34; p=0.02), sensory (β =0.83; p=0.001) and behavioural (β =0.09; p=0.03) symptoms after accounting
for age, income, education and years in farming. Positive but non-significant associations were also observed in conventional
farmers with cognitive and motor symptoms, and with all subscales of depression symptoms in the adjusted models.
Conclusion. The findings obtained suggest the importance of a larger study to further explain the difference in mental
and neurological health effects in these two categories of farmers.
关键词：conventional farming; organic farming; health effects; depression; neurological symptoms
